Student Charged With Misdemeanor Following Social Media Threat

According to a report from the Broome County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, December 18th, detectives were alerted to a threat posted earlier in the day on Snapchat, which is a social media platform.

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Detectives from the Broome County Sheriff's Office identified the owner of the Snapchat account within minutes of the report being made, and after an investigation, charged a 15-year-old female with making a threat of mass harm, a Class B Misdemeanor.

We treat every threat of harm to the lives of our community’s children and teachers seriously. I urge all parents to take the time and talk with their children and ensure that they understand that it’s never acceptable to make threatening statements of school violence as a joke or under any circumstance. The Broome County Sheriff’s Office has zero tolerance for this kind of behavior, and unfortunately, this individual found out the hard way. - Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar

The 15-year-old female was identified as a student at Maine-Endwell High School.

Upon learning about this potential online threat, the student was immediately identified and brought into the office. The Broome County Sheriff’s Office responded to the high school within minutes. At no time were our students, faculty, or staff in any danger. We commend the team at the Sheriff’s Office for their swift response and we will continue to treat any and all threats of this kind seriously. The safety of our school community is of utmost importance and behavior of this kind will not be tolerated. - Jason Van Fossen,  Maine-Endwell Central School District Superintendent 

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